“For every call to action in an email, there is an implied psychological calculus cost in the mind of the customer (value vs cost)” (quoted via Vero)

In other words, subscribers weigh the cost of clicking the link vs. the promised value. And they’ll click only on those links where the value greatly outperforms the cost.

And so, to improve the performance of your email call to action, you need to reduce the perceived cost of clicking the link.

Example. Let’s imagine that your goal is to compel someone to visit a product they’ve never heard of before. It’s only natural to suggest they sign up for it. However, given that the person knows nothing about the product, the cost of this action far outweighs the potential benefit. Therefore, you probably stand a greater chance of succeeding if you suggest they “learn more” about it first.

(Folks behind the amazing SaaStock invite email subscribers to read more about their latest event, rather than immediately pushing them to sign up!)

Another example. In this scenario, you want to entice subscribers to visit your blog and read the latest post. You can suggest they simply “read it now.” Or, alternatively, experimenting with making the part of the email that explains the biggest benefit of the content a link. You might see that these links get a much higher CTR. And that’s because, for anyone experiencing the problem your article helps overcome, those benefits would far outweigh the cost of clicking.

#2. DropAny Friction Words from Your CTAs

Tell me: how likely do you typically enjoy doing things you have to do (particularly, if compared that those that you need to do)?

My guess, not so much.

And yet, as it turns out, quite often we make our subscribers feel forced to take action in the CTA…